Arts groups get 'Squeezed' for the 2026 Giving Challenge

Falling this year on April 15, the bi-annual Giving Challenge might seem to be putting the squeeze on taxpayers who’ve just shelled out money to the government. Gallerist Marianne Chapel gets the joke.

Chapel, founding director of Spaaces art gallery in the Limelight District, is banding with several arts organizations to host an energetic fundraising event for the Giving Challenge. It seems fitting that she’s dubbed it “Squeeze.”

(Chapel’s Princeton Street gallery uses all caps in its title and so does the Giving Challenge event. But newspaper tradition frowns on the extraneous use of capital letters, so please bear with us.)

For Squeeze, Spaaces has joined hands with deejay Karim Manning, Sarasota Contemporary Dance, Upward Notes and Artist Series Concerts to throw a five-hour party of dance and music surrounded by visual arts.

Right now, the show up at Spaaces is “Object/Subject: The Body, Space and Acts of Transformation,” which is on display through May 16. That exhibition features artists LaMichael Leonard Jr., Laine Nixon, Yosnier Miranda, Rose Marjanneke Williamson, Matt Hollis and Whit The Poet.

Squeeze is free, but attendees are encouraged to take part in the Giving Challenge’s 24-hour fundraiser, which is presented by the Community Foundation of Sarasota. From noon on April 15 until noon on April 16, donations of between $25 and $100 made to eligible local nonprofits will be 100% matched by a gift from the Patterson Foundation.

The idea for the Squeeze collaboration came out of conversations that Chapel had last summer when Leonard, a former Martha Graham Dance Company member, was at the gallery. Leonard is currently artist in resident at The Ringling.

“We were talking about how to describe the energy of bringing multiple art forms and people into one shared moment, and Squeeze felt right,” Chapel says. “It held a lot of meaning at once.”

Squeeze “speaks to how nonprofits operate, especially during the Giving Challenge, where there is a very limited window to rally support and every gift must happen within that compressed timeframe,” she says.

But Chapel notes that Squeeze “also works as a broader metaphor. A squeeze gathers things together and holds them closely, which reflects how organizations like Spaaces bring together people of different ages, disciplines and backgrounds into one shared space.”

At the center of the Squeeze Giving Challenge event are two live performances at 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Each half-hour show features a classical string quartet from Upward Notes and Artist Series Concerts alongside beatbox artist Manning and Sarasota Contemporary Dance members. Using Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” as inspiration, they will create an dynamic, interdisciplinary experience.

Throughout the evening, guests can enjoy light refreshments and opportunities to support participating organizations through the Giving Challenge. Donors can also participate in the fundraising event online at GivingChallenge.org.

From 7-10 p.m., Manning, who goes by the handle DJ Karim, will host a dance party. What a way to get squeezed!